Penningtons agrees demerger

Penningtons Solicitors LLP has agreed with those partners of the firm who are based in Newbury terms for a demerger of its Newbury office. The demerger is with effect from 1 December 2007. Simultaneously, the Newbury office will merge with Thomas Eggar LLP.

Lesley Lintott, Chief Executive of Penningtons Solicitors LLP, said: "Penningtons has recently resolved to move away from an office based structure following a strategic review of how Penningtons delivers its legal services to clients. The Newbury partners of Penningtons felt the needs of the firm's practice in Newbury did not sit well with the results of the strategic review and wished to refocus that practice. While we will be sorry to lose our colleagues in Newbury, in the circumstances, we have amicably agreed terms for a demerger of their office. We wish them every success in the future.

The rest of the firm is committed to the implementation of our strategic review which involves all legal services now falling into one of three new firmwide divisions: Business Services, Commercial Property and Private Individuals. The financial performance of the firm in the financial year to date following the creation of this new divisional structure has been very encouraging and shows the value of the changes we have made."

Tony Edwards, Managing Partner for Thomas Eggar LLP said “Thomas Eggar LLP are pleased to welcome the partners and staff in the Newbury office and we look forward to developing our business together over the coming months. The merger with the Newbury office gives us a strong foundation to achieve our vision of being a leading law firm in the south. There are already strong synergies between the Newbury office and the existing Thomas Eggar LLP offices and we are looking to work together to open a new office in Southampton in the spring of 2008, bringing the total number of offices to six. “